Clean Air NDC Scorecard 2023

The 2023 Clean Air NDC Scorecard reveals a significant gap in the integration of air quality and health into national climate plans, with an average score of 3.5/15 across 170 analysed NDCs. Low- and middle-income countries generally outperform high-income countries, with Colombia and Mali achieving the highest scores (12/15). Conversely, several high-emitting nations, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, scored 0/15. The analysis highlights a critical disconnect in countries with high air pollution mortality, such as North Korea and the Solomon Islands, where NDCs fail to recognise the links between climate action and healthy air.

• Low- and middle-income countries demonstrate a higher commitment to integrating clean air and health into their NDCs than high-income countries. Low-income countries had the highest average score of 3.7/15, while high-income countries averaged 2.9/15.
• Colombia and Mali are the top performers in the assessment, each scoring 12/15. Colombia's NDC includes a 40% reduction goal for black carbon and plans to increase bicycle usage by 5.5% by 2030. Mali's NDC identifies the impacts of PM2.5 on cardiovascular and respiratory systems and estimates that air quality improvements could avoid 2.4 million premature deaths by 2030.
• There is a notable lack of air quality integration among the world's largest emitters. The top ten total emitters averaged a score of 2.7/15, and the top ten per capita emitters averaged 2.4/15. Six NDCs scored 0/15, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, North Korea, Nauru, Palau, and the Solomon Islands.
• A significant disconnect exists between national air pollution mortality rates and NDC commitments. North Korea and the Solomon Islands have the highest mortality rates but scored 0/15. India and China also show gaps; India scored 2/15 despite a mortality rate of 119.9 per 100,000, and China scored 7/15 with a mortality rate of 129.9 per 100,000.
• Most NDCs lack specific, actionable details regarding health impacts, monitoring, and finance. Less than a third (51) refer to health impacts or public health actions, and only 32 refer to forward-looking targets or monitoring. Furthermore, only 17 of 170 NDCs mention costs, budgets, or returns on investment related to air quality.

APA

Castillo, B. P., & Blom, I. (2023). Clean Air NDC Scorecard 2023. Global Climate and Health Alliance. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/clean-air-ndc-scorecard-2023/

Chicago

Castillo, Blanca Paniello, and Iris Blom. Clean Air NDC Scorecard 2023. Global Climate and Health Alliance, 2023. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/clean-air-ndc-scorecard-2023/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Castillo |first1=Blanca Paniello |last2=Blom |first2=Iris |title=Clean Air NDC Scorecard 2023 |publisher=Global Climate and Health Alliance |date=1 September 2023 |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/clean-air-ndc-scorecard-2023/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{castillo2023clean, author = {Castillo, Blanca Paniello and Blom, Iris}, title = {{Clean Air NDC Scorecard 2023}}, institution = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/clean-air-ndc-scorecard-2023/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }